Real Wedding: Irene and Marty – Russian Traditions in Manhattan
We originally featured Irene and Marty’s stunning wedding photos from Karen Wise a week or so ago. Since then, we’ve added some more, and so we thought we’d show all of them to you, one more time …
They were married in Manhattan on a freeeeezing New York afternoon in January.
Irene, the beautiful bride was born and raised in Russia and wanted to find ways to intermingle her heritage and it’s rich traditions into her very New York-chic wedding celebration at Bridgewaters.
from the bride … “I was born in Ukraine and raised in a Russian household, in a small community. We wanted to have as many personal touches as possible, including incorporating wedding traditions from my background, to make the day unique to us. During the ceremony, one of my bridesmaids read a love poem in Russian, which was then translated by my brother into English.
As my husband and I entered the reception, my parents presented us with traditional wedding welcome bread, the Karavay, on a decorated handmade towel called a Rushnik, welcoming us to the family. We had hired a Russian vocalist to perform during part of the reception and for the father-daughter dance.
One of the highlights at the reception was when the maid of honor and my brother surprised everyone by stealing the bride’s shoe. … a game played at Russian weddings when the groom then needs to “pay ransom”, in the form of performing a task, to win back the shoe for his bride. My husband had a great sense of humor about the whole thing and happily performed the Slavic folk dance “prisiadka” with much encouragement from his American friends and family. Although we were celebrating in America, my husband and I felt that my Russian heritage was a big part of our day.
We have a few more beautiful shots from Irene and Marty’s wedding day coming right up as well as photos of the wedding invitations that Irene designed!
Also, be sure and check out Karen’s blog for even more.
Her dress is gorgeous!
Oh, what a sweet wedding!! Great work from Karen, as usual!
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What a gorgeous setting, the photos look magical!
beautiful. Love the shoes!! And the color combo is amazing.
Love the colors!! Any idea where the shoes are from? I am on a fearless search for purple wedding shoes...
Virginia,
Irene's fabulous purple shoes were designed by Christian Louboutin.
I get so excited to see weddings at my venue!! Great shots!
Stunning bride, stunning photos!